Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-05-19

| iAesAhS AiA WIZ PASOuAS'
And now once more Shirley felt the old
longing to fly. Once more her spirit beat its
wings against the iron bars and looked out
into the beyond as Shirley sat alone
in the gray twilight of the short winter days.
1t was very different now. Yet she felt
within herself it was not too late. Half her
lifetime was gone. But for genius and en-
thusiasm there is no age. She was in the
flower Of her intellectual life.
All these years the demands on her had
been unceasing. Yet they were not without
good. Her life was rich in knowledge and
experience. She had grown wis, through the
precious discipline of failure.
In these years, all unconsciously to herself,
influences had emanated from her gentle, busy
life-had spread far beyond the narrow limits
of Linwood, and nodded and lifted up many
hearts, Truly she had said long ago that she
was drawn SO many different ways" It was
this that was at once her weakness and her
strength.
She had in her nature that inexphcable,
wonderful human sympathy which unlocked
all hearts, young and old, which drew them
and held them bound to her forever 1t was
magical, because it was genuine. Young and
old instinctively went to her as to a confes-
sional, and told her their sorrows and their
sins. b' r' ,a.
1t may have been because the undercurrent
of her thought still ran on the poem she was
to have written SO long ago; itmay have been
because of the suffering and needs she saw
and learned of during those bitter years of
experience, but Shirley became above all
messenger of good to women. Her heart
went out above all to the toilers of her own
sex.
Women far and near, the aspiring and am
bilious, the sick, the weary, the starving and
the heart sore those who had broken their
wings against the solid walls that shut in a
woman's life, these came to her. and they
poured out all their hearts to her, and be-
sought her to tell them what they might do.
AS she grew older, and her vision gradually
took in all the round horizon of experience,
many things were clear to her that had been
dark before. 1t became clear to her that,
limited only by the moral laws, freedom of
will is the greatest good for humanity, man
and woman alike, ", .,.... ..-,. .t.
She taught them to reverence nothing
merely because it is old. ...,
She taught them to look into the heart of
things, and ask: Are courage, will. intel
lectual power, the strength to achieve, quail
ties that belong only to men?
She pointed out to them that the personal
feelings and emotions of man or woman count
for very little in the destiny of the race.
Greater than mans nature or woman's ma.
ture is human nature, underlying all, holding
all in its grasp. She showed them how alb
surd anatomical and physiological supersti-
tions concerning woman's mind and body
have been taught by medical men through
hoary centuries. They stand only because no
woman contradicts them.
Out of the strength drawn from the bitter
cup she herself had drained, though they
knew it not, she was able to tell them that the
individual happiness or unhappiness is pitt
fully small thing. That the road to wise con-
tent was to lose sight of their own emotions
and sorrows in the culture of the mind, in
broad human interests Then suffering will
no longer be the lot of woman.
She bade them, fnging away as far as
may be their personal hopes, fears and dis
appointments, to keep step with the grand
music of the onward cycles of time.
She told them to see to it that they did not
lie like clods to be trodden under foot, or
showed out of the way, but that themselves
be up and working for the progress of
womankind towards the ight-womankind
the laggard half of the human race. For,
greater than passion and gratifed petty am
bition, yea, greater than love even, greater
than ALL is this march of humanity into the
light.
Further, as they would find peace for their
souls, she bade them never lose sight of re-
solve, never cease to will and to aspire.
Every steadfast effort that a woman makes,
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freer and stronger, even through disappoint-
ment, sickness and weariness, brings mo-
ment nearer the good time which is surely
coming for the sex. The woman's day is at
hand. 1t will be brighter, happier day than
the ages have yet disclosed. She told them
to be sure of that. She told them of her own
unalterable faith that thus the centuries to
come would develop q strong and splendid
race of women, fit mates for the kings among
men.
So she talked with them till their hearts
burned within them. Her voice had a note
like a trumpet ring. From that day on there
was for them no more despair, no more look
ing backward. Like her they set their faces
forward ana pressed on. Women came to
her with tears in their eyes, they sent mes
sages from half round the world, thanking
her and blessing her for all she had been to
them. tieT". stc H.Et 4SEF Fi
Shirley the Poet became Shirley the In
spirer, the Comforter. a'iJ }.8aty
In giving happiness to others she lost her.
self and ceased to think of her own sorrows
and disappointments. So she found at last,
In measure, happiness for herself.
She had somewhat of reward, the sweetest,
highest reward that can fall to mortal lot
And yet-all that she had done and wrought
for others could not be accomplished without
some straining at the silver cord. asa 3ug
"To him that oyercometh all things shall
be given" was said of old. Shirley had over
come; yet little had been granted her: 1t was
her nature to give out always more than she
received So at last she began to be exhausted
That was the pity of it A sense of wearinass
oppressed her. distasts for even the daily
tasks she lik.d best She said to herself once
more that she must have change Her life
seemed wearing out. ~l 'n'it'' 'Nt
Alas, alasl 1t was the helmet of iron press
ing upon the golden hair. The iron pressed
at last upon tho golden heart, too. lNsI8 aEl
II - So y"
One day, while she thus sighed for change,
Shirley got letter. IL said:
'My wife is dead May Gomez